CHENNAI: Abrasives maker Carborundum Universal Ltd. (CUMI) said its revenue mix between sales within and outside the country would undergo a major overhaul in five years. As much as 73 per cent of its consolidated revenue of Rs. 530 crore in 2005-06 came from income generated in India.

Addressing a press conference to mark the inauguration of the company's fourth coated abrasives manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur on Thursday, K. Srinivasan, Managing Director, said, "we hope this (revenue mix) will get reversed in five years."

Mr. Srinivasan said the Rs. 50-crore state-of-the-art facility would have a capacity of 15 million square metres. It would be capable of churning out products for next generation applications.

The `Peter Schwabe Maker' installed at the new facility had the capacity to process fabrics and paper used for coated abrasives up to 1650 mm width against the existing capacity of 940 mm.

CUMI has eight subsidiaries, four joint ventures and an associate outfit.

On the fall-out of this huge capacity creation on the market dynamics, Mr. Srinivasan said that at least 50 per cent of the new capacity would go to serve the growth in the domestic market. He also indicated that the capacity addition could also impact low-end imports and smaller players. "This will also take care of dismantling of at least 3-4 million square metre capacity that we are planning," he pointed out.

In this context, he said the Pallikarani unit of CUMI would slowly be dismantled. At least 40 per cent of workers in that unit were re-deployed and 30 per cent opted for VRS (voluntary retirement scheme). Efforts were on to arrive at a settlement with the rest, he added. Eventually (after dismantling some capacity), CUMI would have a capacity of around 20 million square metres.

To a question, M. M. Murugappan, Chairman, said CUMI would look into the possibility of getting the SEZ (special economic zone) status for its Sriperumbudur facility. "We are still looking at it," he said in response to persistent queries on this front. The Chairman also said that the proposed bonded abrasives facility of the joint venture in China would go on stream by the end of 2007.

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